Nonsense Books

don Station!' she made no observation,
But thought she should go back to Sweden."

A noticeable feature about this first book, and one which we think is
peculiar to it, is the harsh treatment which the eccentricities of the
inhabitants of certain towns appear to have met with at the hands of their
fellow-residents. No less than three people are "smashed,"--the Old Man of
Whitehaven "who danced a quadrille with a Raven;" the Old Person of Buda;
and the Old Man with a gong "who bumped at it all the day long," though in
the last-named case we admit that there was considerable provocation.
Before quitting the first "Nonsense-Book," we would point out that it
contains one or two forms that are interesting; for instance, "scroobious,"
which we take to be a Portmanteau word, and "spickle-speckled," a favorite
form of reduplication with Mr. Lear, and of which the best specimen occurs
in his last book, "He tinkledy-binkledy-winkled the bell." The second book,
published in 1871, shows Mr. Lear in the maturity of